The Golden Problem
by thecagedsong
Summary: Lucy thought Magnolia couldn't be too much a problem, she just had to spend every day volunteering, make a generous donation from Heart Hotels, and keep her identity secret until she was ready. Too bad Magnolia has a positively primeval idea of high school social classes, and they want her at the top. Now she has to solve the Golden Problem, on top of everything else, help!


A Metallic Construction

High schools were made for drama. Throw a bunch of insecure teenagers in the same buildings for eight hours every day, only teach them unimportant things like angular comparison and old dead white men, and what did people think was going to happen? I thought I had avoided most of it, but that Wednesday I got more than my fair share.

"Oh-no," Levy said, glancing at something behind me, "here they come. It was nice while it lasted." Levy shook her head mournfully and turned away.

"What was nice? What are you talking about?" I asked, looking around for suspicious figures. Well, no men in black or aliens in the area, just your normal groups of teenagers. Well semi-normal. This was the most stratified cafeteria I'd ever seen, and I'd seen a lot. We were in the middle, like our social standing according to the List. Nice and silver. Some golds were huddled together, but that shouldn't bother Levy.

"Don't worry, we forgive you for leaving us, we've been waiting for this day," Wendy, told me solemnly.

"Tch, I thought better of you Bunny-girl," Gajeel said, not looking me in the eye. No one was looking me in the eye.

"Hello, still confused over here…" I asked, then I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to see some kid with pink hair followed by a group of other students. The Goldens that had been gathering before had made their way over here. They had varying expressions, from excitement on a senior girl's to complete boredom on her boyfriend's face.

"Um, hi, can I help you?" I ask the guy in front. He seemed to be the one who tapped my shoulder; I think he was in my English and Government classes, Nalu or something. He was in the back of the class and never raised his hand.

"Congratulations Lucy Celeste, you have been officially upgraded from Silver to Golden after that stunt you pulled on Mr. Green, come on over and eat with us." He grinned and held out his hand. Okay, a lot of things in that sentence needed explaining, and it took me a while to understand it myself.

Huh, odd. I was told when I first got here that I accidentally sat on the "golden" side of the lawn, but they didn't seem impressed when I laughed in their face all the way to my first class. Seems like they wanted me to join now. I never cared about it, and only respected their rules because it made Wendy upset when I tried to fight it. I would do just about anything for that kid.

The other thing, the thing with Mr. Green, well, I guess I should have realized that there would be consequences of that stunt. I had a really good history teacher at my last school, so when this school started teaching everything wrong, I sort of told it to the teacher's face. We made a bet, if I was right and the election of 1877 did not go to the House of Representatives, then he would have to buy me lunch and let me re-teach the lesson. If he was right, then I owed him a ten-page report on the five most significant presidential elections in American History.

I won.

Then I taught the class using modern terms and examples, and no matter what Mr. Green says, that election was just like telling your parents that you got back together with your cheating ex. I guess that stunt had earned me the coveted title of "golden". Still, I wasn't interested in perpetuating a ridiculous high school version of the caste system.

"Erm, sorry, I don't really care. You can give the spot to someone else," I said and turned back to my lunch. Really, we were running out of time and I still had half a salad to finish, Virgo had made the strawberry vinaigrette herself and it was heavenly.

"Wait, what did you say?" he asked, this time putting a hand on my shoulder and physically turning my body towards him. I squashed my initial reaction to flip him over my shoulder and onto the table for the sake of my friends' lunches. Erza had been teaching me a lot, but I don't think she would be proud of the fact that I used her teachings it to squish Nalu into everyone's food.

I used all the control my business and politics tutors taught me when dealing with pushy clients to gently remove his hand and say, "I'm sorry, I'm not interested in joining you're self-centered little vanity club, please leave me to continue eating my lunch without your obnoxious presence hanging over my shoulder."

Silence.

…Okay, I probably should have mentioned I was a disgrace to my father and my tutors in that respect, I totally failed the grace and manners portion of our lessons. I didn't care at that moment, and instead enjoyed the stunned looks on the 'in' crowd's faces. Seems no one had ever turned them down before.

"I don't think you understand what I'm offering here, you get the chance to stop hanging out with these losers and start hanging out with us." I saw Wendy duck her head in shame, "we have all the best parties, hangout spots, and just about everything else. Everyone is honored when they are offered a spot with the Goldens." Okay, I would do anything for Wendy, except let someone put her down; the time for pleasant niceties is over.

"I think I understand what you are offering way better than you do Pinky." I stand up and face the entire popular crowd, losing my appetite, "You want me to leave some of the best people I have met to hang with your pretty little jocks and cheerleaders. Well, news flash for you Nalu, every single one of you is completely and utterly broken." I took turns staring in the eyes of each individual as I continue, "you are alone, you have been ignored and no one understands you. Your parents either have unrealistic expectations of you, or none at all, and you never know who you can trust and who is going to turn their back on you once they realize that you aren't who you say you are. And instead of using these feelings to make other people feel better, knowing that they probably feel it too, you spend all your time trying to forget that you are broken by making fun of people who are just a little more obvious about it. So thanks, but no thanks."

There were various looks of outrage, hurt, and indignation on the crowd's faces, but I only felt apathy. I have traveled up and down the west and east coasts, but never have I met such obvious bullies in all my schools. Guess what? Another fun fact you can learn from History is that the ruling body only has the power the people give it, and I refuse to support a system that elevates one person over another based on something as subjective and arbitrary as a popularity list. Even for Wendy.

I grabbed my bags and glanced at the blue-haired girl. Wendy and Juvia had always felt the brunt of the Golden's anger, Wendy for skipping two grades, a twelve-year-old freshman, and Juvia for talking in third person. They were doing their best not to be noticed.

I grab my bag and my lunch before leaving, hoping that if I left they wouldn't have the energy to bother my friends, wanting to say goodbye to them, but not wanting to draw attention that they didn't want. I pushed my way through the crowd, keeping their eyes on me, and they flinched away as though I had the plague. I see a white-haired girl try to convince Nalu that I wasn't worth it. My dad would be _so_ proud of my networking skills.

Erza, who had spent lunch in a student council meeting, was the only friend I had for my last two classes, Math and Chemistry, and I was thankful for that. I felt horrible for breaking my promise to Wendy. I thought I could do it, I thought that I could control my temper, but that jerk's smug face kept popping into my mind. It was not okay to make others feel inferior, and for some reason I hated that he was the one doing it. Maybe it was his hair, pink is my favorite color and associating it with something so vile as bullying understandably upset me.

While Erza didn't know what happened at lunch, she did notice the poisonous glares sent my way from a couple of the Goldens in our class, but today was a lecture day, so she couldn't question me on it.

Over all the little group of friends I had built myself here consisted of Juvia, Wendy, Erza, Levy, and her boyfriend, Gajeel. I have only been here two months, but after transferring so many times I found that I needed friends to keep up with the curriculum and every person has something important they can teach me. I know a lot of kids who spend their lives on the move don't try to make a lot of friends, but I find that a waste of an opportunity, even if it is more painful when you have to leave. It also helps to have friends that can get you into the volunteering programs around the town, which is important especially if you happen to be the current head of Heart Hotel's charity department. But that's just a side bonus to the awesome friendships.

The bell rang and I gathered up my stuff, dreading explaining to Erza that I had broken my promise. Wait maybe if I smiled and pretend like nothing was wrong she will—

"What beehive did you kick at lunch?" —Never mind.

"I was invited to join the Goldens and they didn't like my answer," I replied with a wince. Maybe I shouldn't have been that mean, I had never actually seen some of them be a bully and I called them all broken loners, gosh I hate when my mouth runs.

"Good for you," Erza said, startling me.

"But…I thought you guys didn't want me to call the Goldens out on their crap?"

She patted me roughly on the back and I bit back a wince.

"Sure, conflict avoiders like Levy and Wendy might be a little bummed, but you were stuck between the promise of being friends with us and the promise of not causing a scene. I think you broke the right one," she explained. Huh, that's right.

I gave Erza a big smile, "Thank you. You're right, you and everyone else are much more important to me than hurting some bullies' feelings. Plus, they didn't really leave me a choice, I tried to be nice, but I _had_ to get mean to make them leave me alone." We walk in silence the rest of the way to class, but when we pass the two white haired girls in the hallway, I couldn't stop my guilty flinch.

Before we sat down in class Erza shook her head at me and sighed, "You still want to apologize, don't you?" Guess I couldn't lie to Erza, an amazing feat for her since she has only known me for two months.

That, or I really suck at lying, but I'm pretty sure Erza just has superhuman powers of deduction. See, despite my short temper and tendency to call people on their crap, I usually feel super guilty about it afterwards. Instead of giving her a verbal answer I busy myself with getting my math things out. No way I could be bad at lying considering no one knew who I was, it had to be Erza.

"You are the biggest contradiction I have ever met," Erza sighed, "just remember when you are apologizing that you care more about being friends with our group than saving their feelings you oak sap." I giggled and nodded.

"I promise, you overrated peanut."

"You had better you inflammable lampshade,"

"Corrupt turtle,"

"Ugly lava lamp"

"Pretentious exterior"

"Precocious porcupine,"

"Drowning squid,"

"Ladies, may we begin?" Our math teacher interrupted. Barely holding in our laughter, Erza and I nodded. Math was a cinch for me, especially since we were going over different interest formulas. I've had these memorized since I was 12, so I spent the period working on my actual work instead, double checking everything to be ready for my accountant to go over Friday morning.

Class ended and I was hanging out with our group; there was an hour after class on Wednesdays where no one had anywhere to be, so we all hung out together before going to our various extra circulars. I was watching Wendy do an impression of her French teacher when the word "Jellybean" flashed across my phone and the song "Cooler Than Me" started to play.

"Sorry guys, I need to take this, I'll be back in a few," I said walking around the building before picking up, hoping my nosy friends would mind their own business.

"Sup Jellybean, what on Earth was that today? You promised to keep people like Nalu off my back!" I demanded.

" _Nalu? What? Oh, you mean Natsu, sorry Lucy, I couldn't stop him."_ Whoops, I got his name completely wrong, good thing I guess. Nalu sounds like some cheesy celebrity couple name, Natsu sounds much better. Just another thing I have to apologize for…

"Did you try talking?" I rolled my eyes, "And use my code name!"

" _Geeze, you really have no trust in me. I even called you a two-bit whore with no money or social skills, aren't I such a good friend?"_

"The best Jellybean." I replied with a smile, "Do they still want me after everything I said?"

" _No, your charm and wit may have put on the outcast list though. I'm proud of you Princess, no one has been so commonly hated to be put there in years, but you skipped right over Bronze into Outcast. Why do you get the code name Princess and I'm stuck with Jellybean?"_ He complained about that every time he called and I rolled my eyes for the second time in two minutes.

"Because you refused to pick one yourself so I had to choose for you. Thanks for the heads up, anything else?" a quick look around showed no one appeared to be listening.

" _Uggh, my friends are going to think I have a girlfriend or something if I have to keep calling you Princess, and yes I do have something important to tell you."_

"Hey, an unnamed and denied girlfriend will only add to the aura of mystery you try so hard to keep. What do ya got for me?"

" _Natsu and Gray were invited to the Mayor's ball in two weeks, their dads apparently donated enough to his campaign this time. Watch your step if you want to keep your secret, you aren't as unnoticed as you like to think."_

"Shoot, looks like I'm going to have to play master of disguise again."

" _Can you bring Nora out too, I've missed her."_ I couldn't stop my laugh at that. Nora was what I named the fake nose I sometimes used to hide my identity.

"Nora misses you too Jellybean, I'll see what I can do, thanks for the heads up."

" _You don't even care about your identity do you? You just get a perverse pleasure out of calling me that."_

"I like to think of it as a bonus. Is there any time I can come over soon? I miss your mom,"

" _She's still pretty back to back with work trips, but she wants to meet up with you soon too. Next month should be better for scheduling a dinner. I've got to go now, bye."_

I sighed, "Such is the life of the rich and busy, I'll see you around, bye." I hung up, made my way back to my friends, and while they looked innocent enough, Juvia had been leaning against the other bench, and Erza hadn't made any headway on her cake. Eavesdroppers.

"So Lucy, secret boyfriend?" Levy asks me from her spot on Gajeel's lap, at least she didn't pretend to be innocent.

"Nope, trust me, if I had a boyfriend I would let everyone know about it. I'm a love out loud kind of girl. Did you finish the Gatsby Essay?" Levy still seemed suspicious about my babbling, but went along with my change in subject.

Soon enough we had to split, Levy volunteered at the local library, Wendy was a volunteer at the hospital, Juvia's parents ran the geriatric housing at the hospital, Erza gave community martial arts classes to kids and free self-defense classes to women, and Gajeel was part of the big brother sponsorship program for troubled teens. It was investigating each of these programs as a volunteer to find out what exactly everyone needed that I found my friends, and not to brag or anything, but I brought them all together except Levy and Gajeel.

When I first took over the charity department as an eager thirteen year old, I used to get the guided tour by the owner, but the owner liked to ask for the big things that would make him look good, not what the company actually needed. It was slipping away and pretending to be a volunteer that I found that the tutoring program didn't need new computers as much as it needed hand sanitizer, lined paper, and white board markers, so that's what I gave them. It's an interesting job that worked with the fact that I had to constantly move to new locations. My dad spent the last four years working on getting hotels overseas, and the massive praise that came from the towns I worked in over those years was more than enough to keep him off my back about my methods, as did my reports about Hotel operations at the various places he sent me to learn about the business.

My methods were a little unique and I usually went around in disguise; however, when Dad told me he wanted me in Magnolia working until I finished school, I decided to go back to my real looks. I wasn't actually sure what those even were at that point, which was another reason to ditch the disguise, talk about an identity crisis. Turns out I was five foot seven and had yellow blonde hair, brown eyes, a round face with a pointed chin, and I was pretty darn pale.

I started in Magnolia in December, spent the holidays in France with friends. It was now February and in a year and a half I would be graduating with these people. The popularity system here made it seem like the worst possible place to settle down, but my friends were worth it. On the phone was none other than golden boy Jellal Fernandez, his family was huge in the oil business and he was the only one who knew about my little secret. For all the pretenses these high school kids put up, Jellal was the only one besides me with enough money to warrant the title of rich.

I thought about this as I drove Wendy and Juvia to the hospital where I was helping out that day. Wendy went to go shadow her mother like usual as Juvia and I went to spend time with the old people. I cleared my head before entering the nursing home though, putting on a smile as Juvia bounced to one side of the room.

"Grandma Megan, Juvia has a surprise for you," Juvia said excitedly, "Juvia has gotten permission to bake cookies!" while I sat down at a poker table and joined a game. Have I mentioned I love my job?


End file.
